LONG BEACH, California, April 14, (AP): Tempers flared in almost every corner of the IndyCar paddock on Sunday at Long Beach, where Mike Conway was the unexpected winner of a surprisingly physical race. Ryan Hunter-Reay dominated most of the race but triggered a seven-car accident 24 laps from the finish when he tried to make an aggressive pass of Josef Newgarden. It left team owner Michael Andretti shaking his head in disgust because the accident wiped out both Hunter-Reay and Andretti Autosport driver James Hinchcliffe, and team owner Sarah Fisher fumed on Twitter over Newgarden’s day being ruined. The accident opened the door for Scott Dixon to win the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach for the first time. But he was short on fuel by roughly half a lap and pitted with two laps to go. That gave Conway the lead, and the British driver cruised to his second career win on the temporary street course through the streets of Long Beach.

Conway, who also won at Long Beach in 2011, scored the win for Ed Carpenter Racing, a team that specializes in oval races. But Carpenter decided this year to get out of the car on road and street courses, and handed the wheel over to Conway, a driver who at the end of 2012 decided he no longer wanted to race on ovals. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe I’m actually here,” Conway said in Victory Lane. “I wasn’t sure Scott was going to pull in there. I couldn’t see he was saving fuel where he should have been saving. Second would have been good, but this is awesome.” Dixon said he pitted when he did to avoid potentially running out of fuel on the track. “The last thing I wanted to do was run out of gas in front of the whole field and cause a big accident,” Dixon said. One big accident had already occurred - when Hunter-Reay picked the wrong time to try to pass Newgarden.

Newgarden had raced off of pit road in a successful bid to get back onto the track in front of Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe, the two Andretti drivers who had started on the front row. But on cold tires, he wasn’t going to be able to hold off Hunter-Reay for long. Only Hunter-Reay decided not to wait and tried to pass Newgarden as they entered a tight Turn 4. The two cars collided, Newgarden was sent into the wall and Hunter-Reay bounced into Helio Castroneves’ path. Hinchcliffe ran into the back of Newgarden - Will Power and Conway successfully squeezed through the wreckage - but Takuma Sato, Tony Kanaan and Jack Hawksworth all ran into the crashed cars long after the accident began. “I was on cold tires, it’s very hard to control the car, I knew Hunter-Reay was on hot, and at some point he was probably going to get me,” Newgarden said. “But I didn’t expect anyone to come up on the inside of four. There’s so little room there, you normally can’t make a pass... the next thing I knew I was in the wall and I was just getting plowed into by everyone.

“That shouldn’t happen up front. It really shouldn’t. You shouldn’t have incidents like that when you are running up front.” Team owner Fisher made her feelings known on Twitter: “It was our race to win and we got robbed by immaturity. Period,” she posted. Andretti seemed shell-shocked at two of his cars being put out of the race and Hinchcliffe did not mince words for his teammate. “Patience is a virtue and someone wasn’t very virtuous day. It was a rookie move,” said Hinchcliffe, who suffered a sprained left thumb and will need to be re-examined before he’s cleared to drive again. Hunter-Reay didn’t exactly accept responsibility. “I could have waited a little bit later, maybe that’s my fault,” he said. “A lot of people say it’s my fault. I made the decision at that split second when he had some wheel spin to go for it, that’s the type of driver I am. I go for it. “You don’t know how down I am. Just very, very disappointed.”

Power finished second - his fourth consecutive race dating to last season that he’s finished either first or second - but had little time to enjoy the result. Contact with Simon Pagenaud earlier in the race sent Pagenaud into a tire barrier, and the Frenchmen was furious. IndyCar reviewed the incident but did not penalize Power. “We had a car to win and he pretty much ruined our race, our chance,” said Pagenaud, who did not accept an apology from Power. “We were friends until now. We won’t be going on vacation together.” Power insisted he thought Pagenaud had an issue with his car. “I honestly thought he had a problem because he went back really slowly and so I went up his inside and then realized he was just going to turn and try to back out. I got him,” Power said. “I feel bad. I don’t like to be raced like that and I’m surprised I didn’t get a penalty. But I honestly thought he had a flat tire or something because he was really slow and I didn’t understand why.”

Rookie Carlos Munoz finished third and Juan Pablo Montoya was fourth for his best showing - in a test, practice or qualifying session - since spending the last seven seasons in NASCAR. Montoya climbed to fourth early in the race, but a penalty for pitting when pit lane was closed dropped him to 20th and he had to drive his way back. “I could have been a little more aggressive at the end, but I really wanted to make sure we didn’t get in any trouble and got a decent finish,” Montoya said.